Very central (10-20 mins to get to most interesting places in LA) and historic.

Even with the historical average of 10% per year, it's nowhere near the roughly 24% gain I would achieve with putting that $18,000 towards a rental property.

We are still operating in a historically low interest rate environment and while none of us really like it, it's actually good for the economy.Best of luckStephanie

However, this home is in Berkeley and I am concerned about destroying historical elements and potential added structural engineering costs that could make the house attractive to a buyer in future years, along with the opportunity cost of construction now versus getting rental income from the house in the next few months. 

Hadn't thought of that.My own leaning is somewhat towards a (historically low) fixed rate, rather than variable.

Strong demand with limited housing supply has driven Austin real estate prices to historic heights.

She was in the wrong of coarse but why on earth would you rent out something like this with aged historic wood that you deeply cared about .

There have been a few posts on this specific subject, if you haven't searched through historical posts I would recommend that as there are a few leads.

@Sam LaGrassa @Aaron Hunt  The actual market numbers for Suffolk County, MA for Q1 2018 vs Q1 2017:Median home price: UP 15.9%Average home price: UP 14.4%# of homes for sale: DOWN 33.5%Days on market: DOWN 6.5%Months supply: DOWN 29.7%  (1.2 months)Now that's not to say that those numbers will continue, but that is the actual historical data for last year.There's still an incredible shortage of homes on the market. 

Historically speaking, the market returns around 7% year over year (when averaging the ups and downs).